37 killed as cargo jet flattens village in fog
Residents tell how parts of aircraft fell on houses
ATURKISH cargo jet crashed near Kyrgyzstan’s Manas airport yesterday, killing at least 37 people, most of them residents of a village struck by the Boeing 747 as it tried to land in dense fog.
The doomed plane ploughed on for a few hundred metres through the Dacha-Suu village, home to hundreds of families, shattering into pieces and damaging dozens of buildings.
Plumes of smoke rose above the crash site, with some mudbrick buildings razed and others pierced by parts of the plane.
The torn-off tail assembly, rotated upside down, towered above a one-storey house.
A football-pitch-sized area was completely levelled and covered with twisted pieces of metal.
The plane was carrying a crew of four, all killed in the crash.
Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Muhammetkaly Abulgaziev said: “According to preliminary information, the plane crashed due to a pilot error.”
The airport administration said the plane was supposed to make a stopover at Manas, near the capital city Bishkek, on its way from Hong Kong to Istanbul.
It crashed when trying to land in poor visibility at 7.31am local time.
Villagers said they had initially thought the area had been struck by an earthquake.
“Around seven o’clock in the morning, I heard a strong noise and after that all the nearest houses were shaken,” resident Andrei Andreyev said.
“Of course, everyone got frightened and started to run out of the houses to the street.
“Nobody understood what was going on because there was a fog – the weather was not good.”
Initial estimates put the death toll at 37, Kyrgyzstan’s emergency service officials said.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said today would be a national day of mourning.
Turkish Airlines said in a statement that the cargo flight was operated by ACT Airlines and neither the Boeing 747-400 aircraft nor the crew belonged to Turkish Airlines.
Turkish cargo operator ACT Airlines said the jet was its.
“Our TC-MCL signed plane, flying on January 16 from Hong Kong to Bishkek, crashed on landing at Bishkek at the end of the runway for an unknown reason,” ACT Airlines said.
At the scene, a massive section of the Boeing 747-400’s tail billowed smoke as rescuers searched for victims among the wreckage.
Crushed cars, shattered homes and huge chunks of burnt debris littered the village.
“Our grandson said something was burning,” Tajikan, a DachaSuu resident who identified herself only by her first name, said.
“We heard a roar and [what felt] like an earthquake. Many people were sleeping, everything around was burning.
“One of the parts of the aircraft fell on our neighbour’s house. She and her whole family died,” the pensioner said.